


Miracles

by krisrussel



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 06:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krisrussel/pseuds/krisrussel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“No!” John barked through his microphone. “If you dare to reactivate her nanites, I’m sending both of you back to Earth the minute the gate’s working again.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miracles

**Author's Note:**

> Someone once said ‘I think Ronon would totally figure out on his own about John and Elizabeth’s secret marriage’ and this weird thing sprang forth... yes... my brain is weird! Also I have no medical expertise whatsoever, so I don’t know if what happens in this fic is even possible. But it’s sci-fi, so everything’s possible, right?  
> Also, I think this is one of the worst things I ever wrote. I'm not even sure why I'm posting this.

“No!” John barked through his microphone. “If you dare to reactivate her nanites, I’m sending both of you back to Earth the minute the gate’s working again.”  
“But…”  
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you get, McKay? She explicitly told me she never ever ever wanted those nanites active again. I’m respecting her wishes, why can’t you?”  
“Fine…” Rodney said, knowing he couldn’t argue against that. “But if she doesn’t make it…”  
“I won’t blame you , Rodney. And she’ll make it… She has to make it.”  
“I’ll do my best, Colonel.” Keller assured him.  
“Thank you.” John whispered into the microphone. “Just… don’t reactivate the nanites, no matter what happens.”  
“Alright.” “Okay.”

It was hours later when the crisis had slightly passed and people had slowly started to relax again that John finally found himself in the infirmary. It was difficult to see her laying like this, so pale and so weak. It was so unlike her. He had never known her to be the weak one. She was always strong, always ready to face whatever they needed to face. She was the one that made him and held him strong. He didn’t know if he’d be able to keep up that strength without her by his side.  
Keller had told him that she was in a coma and then gave him the worst news: she highly doubted Elizabeth would ever wake up again.  
Giving the order to reactivate the nanites would be so easy… she would be okay again. But he couldn’t. He simply couldn’t defy her wishes. She had told him what they had done to her, about the nightmare they had pushed her in.  
She would rather kill herself than live through that again. Never again.  
Sitting down on the chair next to her bed, he gently took her hand in his. He wasn’t sure what to say or what to do, so he simply sat there, holding her hand, somehow knowing that this was already a support for her.

“How is she?”  
John looked up into the worried face of Ronon.  
“Not good.” John admitted, pain marring his face.  
The large runner always knew his friend better than he usually showed and his face turned knowing.  
“How are you holding up?”  
John shrugged. “Fine… considering.”  
“Hmpf.” Ronon never was a man of many words, but the few things he said were usually right on target. As he sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed, he looked intently at the Colonel. “How long have you guys been married?”  
John’s head whipped up so fast that Ronon almost winched, but the look of utter surprise and horror was so comical, that he also had to restrain a grin.  
“Wha… I… no…” A nervous laugh escaped John. “Why would you think something like that?”  
Ronon didn’t say a word and just smiled, giving John that knowing look again.  
John squirmed under his friend’s gaze and finally relented. “How can you possibly know?”  
The grin on Ronon’s face instantly grew. “You may not know it, but the way you guys treat each other just screams married couple.”  
John squirmed again. They really had tried so hard to keep it under wraps.  
“It was that obvious?”  
“Not really… just at some times. I wonder though when it happened. You never left for Earth together at the same time.”  
“It didn’t happen on Earth, so according to Earth rules, I don’t think we’re officially married.”  
“But in your hearts you are?” Ronon asked and John nodded without hesitation. “Then screw what Earth says, it’s what’s in your heart that’s important.”  
“Right now my heart is screaming to reactivate her nanites,” John admitted.  
“She asked you never to do it, so you won’t.”  
“Of course not… but still…”  
“You’re only respecting her wishes,” Ronon pointed out and John nodded again, gripping her hand just a bit tighter.  
Ronon knew he had to get their conversation back to happier times because his friend looked gloomier and gloomier by the second.  
“So, tell me about the wedding.”  
“Ronon…”  
“What? I may not look like it, but I’m a bit of a romantic at heart. It’s one of the things my wife loved about me.”  
John couldn’t help the small smile that played on his lips after hearing that confession. His mind provided him with the image of Ronon in a tux, holding a bouquet of red flowers, sitting on one knee and serenading to his wife. The smile on his face turned into a grin.  
“It was M45-139.”  
Ronon looked knowingly again. “Only you and Weir were allowed to the negotiations on that world, weren’t you? The leader and her bodyguard.”  
John nodded. “Yeah. It was our second trip there and some crazy lady began chanting a song when we entered the main hall and suddenly the people from that world went insane too, asking if we were married and if we weren’t that we should.”  
Ronon grinned. “See, you’re even obvious to people from other planets.”  
“No.” John shook his head. “It was just that one crazy lady. She claimed she talked to the spirits and the spirits had told her we must marry before negotiations could continue. Elizabeth tried to talk them out of it, tried to tell them that we were only coworkers and friends. That there was nothing more going on between us.”  
“And was that true?”  
John gave his friend a glare. “At the time, yes… we always knew we cared a lot about each other, but we never let our feelings dictate our actions towards each other.”  
Ronon smiled again. “You sound a lot like her, you know that?”  
“She taught me well.” John admitted. “You want to hear the rest of it or not?”  
“Oh yeah!” Ronon grinned his teeth bare and sat back in his chair, clearly ready for more.  
John rolled his eyes, but continued anyway, feeling the need to finally talk to someone about what had really happened.  
“The people organizing the negotiations didn’t listen to Elizabeth but only to the crazy spirit-talking lady. We asked for a few moments alone to confer and they granted it.”

FLASHBACK

“John… we can’t do this… if the IOA finds out…”  
“Elizabeth, you know just as well as I do how important these negotiations are. And besides, I don’t think an off-world marriage conducted by aliens counts for US marriage laws. Also, we’re the only ones here. No one has to know.”  
She seemed doubtful; her head still troubled by all the consequences they could be facing.  
“Come on, Lizbeth, these are good allies. I’m willing to do this for the good of Atlantis and the expedition.”  
“Are you guild-talking me into this, Colonel?”  
He gave her an innocent grin. “Me, Doc? Never!”  
Rubbing her hand over her face, she let out a sigh. “Marriage… God, we haven’t even kissed and now we’re supposed to get married…”  
“Lizbeth…”  
She looked up at him and slightly gasped at the sudden look of longing in his darkening eyes. Taking the one step that still separated them; he took her face between his hands and sealed her lips with his.  
For a second she was so shocked she didn’t react, but his kiss was demanding and she melted into it, finally returning it without hesitation.  
When he eventually let go of her, they were both breathing heavily and when she looked into his eyes, the longing had turned into pure unadulterated lust and she was sure hers mirrored the same feeling.  
“We can do this.” He whispered softly, tracing her cheek with his thumb and she couldn’t help but agree with him.

END FLASHBACK

“You kissed her first?” Ronon asked surprised. He had always doubted John would be able to take that first step due to the massive amount of respect he had for her.  
John shrugged. “When she said that we had never kissed I couldn’t stop myself. I always suspected she felt the same about me, but I was never 100% sure… not until that kiss.”  
Ronon grinned again. “And then you guys got married.”  
“Yeah, more or less.” John said. “Our hosts wanted to keep the ceremony closely to our own marriage ceremony, so they still needed to make rings; we needed to write our vows.”  
“Vows?” Ronon asked. He had never witnessed an ‘Earth’ marriage and wasn’t familiar with the customs.  
John nodded. “During the ceremony you tell why you love the person you want to marry, why you want to marry her and how you’ll treat her during the marriage.”  
Ronon scrunched his face. “Sounds dangerous…”  
“Dangerous?” John wondered what his friend meant by that.  
“Yeah, say one thing your partner doesn’t like and you can forget about the marriage.”  
John laughed at that. “Maybe. But most people take weeks, or even months, to write their own vows, so they’re pretty sure that their partner will like it.”  
“You didn’t have weeks or months though.” Ronon pointed out.  
“No.” John said. “But somehow, it all just came naturally.”

FLASHBACK

It was hours after their first and only real kiss when John found himself in front of an altar waiting nervously for Elizabeth. It had been so hectic since they had agreed to the marriage that he had barely seen her again. When the doors opened and she appeared, it took his breath away. She was dressed in a simple long white dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and she looked simply stunning.  
He only realized he was really going to marry her when she stood in front of him and took his hands in hers.  
He was going to marry Elizabeth Weir… his superior in so many ways, yet she wanted to marry him, she had kissed him back… she loved him!  
But did she really?  
A sudden feeling of doubt gripped him. Was she doing this because she really loved him or just for the good of Atlantis…  
“Elizabeth Catherine Weir.” Jo’an, the man conducting the ceremony, started. “You may say your vows.”  
Elizabeth swallowed nervously. They didn’t have much time to prepare something and she hoped she wouldn’t screw this up.  
“John… You appeared so suddenly in my live and you became such an important factor so fast. We became friends and all of a sudden you were more than just a friend… even more than a best friend. You stand by my side during the difficult and worst times. You make me laugh when I feel down and you know when I need you. You bring me coffee in the morning and tea when I’m working late and you are a constant in my life. A constant I need by my side every day and a constant I unknowingly fell deeply in love with. As your wife, I’ll try to be that constant for you. I’ll sit by your bed when you are injured and read ‘War and Peace’ out loud so that maybe you’ll get to finish it.”  
He laughed at that, and the doubt he felt before was now completely gone.  
“I love you, John Sheppard and I can’t imagine ever not loving you. I’ll always stand by your side and I want to marry you and be your wife.”  
“John Patrick Sheppard. You may now say your vows.” Jo’an continued the ceremony.  
John grinned softly at Elizabeth. “It won’t be easy to top that, but then again, you were always much better with words than me.”  
Now it was her turn to laugh and give him a loving smile.  
“Elizabeth, you gave me a chance to better my life when everyone else had given up on me. You stood by my side when I was turning into a bug and everyone else was afraid to come close to me. You’re the reason I can’t wait to return to Atlantis when I’m off world. I always knew you were very attractive… heck, you have to be blind to not see your beauty. But that’s not what made me fall in love with you. It was your spirit I fell in love with. You stay positive, no matter what, you care about people, no matter what and you believe in second and even third chances. Your laugh brings butterflies to my stomach and when you smile… my heart seems to skip a beat.every.single.time. I love you more than life itself and I want to be married to you and be your husband. I’ll stand by your side, no matter what happens. I’ll never be able to betray you and I will keep on loving you forever.”  
Jo’an smiled and gave them the rings. After putting them onto each other’s finger, they held hands again.  
“After saying their vows and exchanging rings, this man and this woman are now husband and wife. You may kiss.”  
John gladly obliged to that and sealed his lips with hers again for the second time that day. He knew that if it was up to him, he’d be doing this a lot more.

END FLASHBACK

“That’s some serious vows.” Ronon said with a smile.  
John face suddenly darkened. “We aren’t even married for half a year and I already broke my vows.”  
“What are you talking about?” Ronon asked, sounding genuinely surprised.  
“I betrayed her, Ronon. When those Colonels wanted to attack Asura, I turned away from Elizabeth and left her alone against them… against me… I never should have done that. I should have stood by her side and listened to her. Instead I blindly followed people who don’t know Atlantis, who don’t know the Asurans and who don’t know Elizabeth… And look what happened… look what that attack did and…”  
“Hey!” Ronon said angry. “Don’t start with that. Those Colonels were your superiors…”  
“Elizabeth is my superior!” John shot back. “She’s my wife and I trust her with my life, implicitly, and still I turned my back to her when she needed me most.”  
“It’s not your fault what happened.”  
“Isn’t it?”  
“No, it’s not. If you would have gone against the wishes of those idiots from Earth, you would have gotten your ass kicked back to Earth and you would have been replaced here. It’s the way every military organization works and subconsciously you know that and that is why you supported them instead of Elizabeth. She may have been hurt by your actions, but she knew that too and forgave you. Now it’s time you forgive yourself.”  
“I’ll never be able to forgive myself if she doesn’t make it through.”  
Ronon sighed. “She has to make it, Sheppard. This city will never be the same without her… and neither will you.”  
John nodded solemnly and Ronon knew he had to change the subject again.  
“So, Am I the only one privileged to know your little marriage secret?”  
“No… not really.” John admitted sheepishly.  
“Who else knows?” Ronon wanted to know, his curiosity now peaked.  
“Keller knows because Elizabeth had a pregnancy scare about a month ago.”  
Ronon grinned. “Pregnancy scare?”  
“Well… you know… though mission… nearly got killed… we were both very happy to see each other again and then you tend to forget certain things while making love to your wife… That mission is also the reason McKay found out.”  
Ronon now laughed. “What happened, he caught you making out in one of the storage rooms?”  
Now it was John’s turn to look sheepishly. “Euhm… yeah…”  
Ronon kept laughing. “Man, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that one…”

FLASHBACK

Keller had kept him in the infirmary for half a day… half a bloody day that he could have spend in his favorite pair of arms that he had missed so much.  
He was so deep in thought about her, that he barely noticed it when he almost ran straight into her in the hallway leading from the infirmary to the control room.  
“Liz…” He whispered and moved his hand up to touch her face. Suddenly remembering they were in the middle of a frequently used hallway, he lowered his hand again and licked his lips.  
“I’m glad you’re okay.” She said and he nodded.  
“Yeah… me too.”  
Glancing around the hallway he noticed the door closest was that of the storage room the science department used to store their unused gadgets. Making sure the coast was clear, he took her hand and pulled her inside the darkened room.  
“John…” Elizabeth laughed, but then his lips were on hers and his hands seemed to be everywhere at once and God, how she had worried about him and how she had missed him.  
She kissed him back demandingly while her hands were pulling his shirt out off his pants.  
Hands and lips touched bare skin and both forgot where they were.  
“OH MY GOD!!!”  
The sudden girly scream brought them both out of the trance they seemed to be in and they turned their heads to the open door in unison.  
McKay stood in the doorway, his chin nearly on the floor and eyes wide.  
They also noticed how pale he looked.  
“Never heard of knocking?” John growled annoyed.  
That seemed to bring McKay out of his shock.  
“Knocking? Knocking!?! I have you known that this is a public area! Have you never heard of a bed in private quarters?!?” He stepped back out and slammed the door closed.  
“Damn…” John whispered; his lips dangerously close to hers again.  
“John, no matter how much I hate to say this, but McKay is right. Let’s continue this in my quarters, shall we?”  
“Gladly.” He grinned and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

END FLASHBACK

Ronon was almost rolling on the floor with laughter at this point.  
“I really would have given everything I own to have seen his face.”  
John grinned widely. “It really was something.”  
“But how did he know you were married?”  
“That was Elizabeth’s idea. She didn’t want Rodney to think that we were just fooling around, so she called him to her office where we explained the situation to him.”  
“And he freaked out again?” Ronon asked hopeful and John laughed.  
“No, he just said that it explained our behavior better. Then he just left and we never talked about it again. He just seemed to accept it.”  
Ronon nodded and for a while it stayed quiet between the two friends.  
John simply held Elizabeth’s hand and watched her pale face while Ronon watched the two carefully. He knew Elizabeth had a very slim chance of making it through this and John would need someone to support him in case she didn’t. Ronon mentally appointed himself to that cause.  
It was then that he suddenly thought about something.  
“What about the rings?”  
John looked up in surprise. “Rings?”  
“Yeah, didn’t you say you exchanged rings when you married?”  
“Oh, those rings.” John smiled and took his dogtag-chain from under his shirt. In between the dogtags hung a simple silver ring.  
“I always keep it close to my heart.” John admitted, blushing just a bit. “Elizabeth keeps hers on a bracelet. Keller told me she’s keeping it in her desk drawer for now.”  
“Wear it.”  
“Ronon…”  
“Everyone here is already certain you guys are more than just friends. Wear it.”  
John looked at the ring on the chain. Having it on his finger when they were on the planet where they got married did feel incredibly good, but would people here really just accept it?  
He barely noticed it when Ronon got up from his chair and left the room, only to return moments later. He gently lowered the small bracelet that held a simple silver ring on Elizabeth’s stomach.  
“She deserves to wear it too.”  
“Ronon…” John sighed.  
“I know you want too…”  
“I do, but…”  
“Just do it. Do what feels right.”  
Wearing the ring had felt so incredibly right. So without thinking about it any further, he opened the chain around his neck, pulled off the ring and put it back on its rightful place, his left ring finger. After that he took the bracelet, took the ring off of it and placed it on Elizabeth’s left ring finger.  
“I love you.” He whispered and gently kissed her cheek.

ONE HOUR LATER

Ronon was still sitting with John and they were softly talking about training schedules when Keller entered the room.  
“Colonel, I’d like to talk to you in private.”  
“It’s okay, Ronon can stay.” John assured her when he saw the runner wanted to get up.  
“Colonel…”  
“Doctor, Ronon stays. I have no secrets for him… not anymore.”  
“Alright.” Keller relented. “I just finished the full work on her blood sample and apparently the pregnancy scare last month wasn’t a scare.”  
John’s eyes grew and his mouth slightly opened. It took him a couple of moments to find his voice again. “Wha… What are you saying?”  
“Elizabeth is two months pregnant, John.”  
“But…” Turning back to Elizabeth he stared at her pale face and gripped her hand a little tighter. “You told us she wasn’t pregnant.”  
“Apparently the presence of the inactive nanites influenced my scanner.”  
“She’s pregnant…” John whispered, still staring at Elizabeth, but then he suddenly turned back to Keller. “Oh, God… what if she doesn’t make it? I’m gonna lose our baby too, aren’t I?”  
John seemed close to crying and Keller put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I have to make sure the baby survived the explosion before we can talk about future plans.”  
John nodded and let go of Elizabeth’s hand when two nurses came in with the portable scanner.  
“I think that I managed to adjust the scanner so it ignores the nanites’ presence.”  
Staring intently at the screen with Ronon by his side, John waited impatiently for an image to appear.  
When, after what seemed an eternity, the screen finally lit up, John gasped. On the screen was the perfectly clear image of a tiny fetus curled up in Elizabeth’s womb. It was then that he heard the faint static coming through the speakers.  
“What’s that sound?” He asked baffled.  
“That would be the heartbeat.” Keller smiled. “He or she, it’s too soon to tell right now, seems to be perfectly fine. It’s a miracle it survived the explosion.”  
“I’m gonna be a dad…” John breathed and then laughed out loud. “I’m going to be dad.”  
Bear hugging Ronon, he laughed some more, but suddenly he became serious again.  
“Be honest with me, Doctor. Can the baby survive this?”  
“If we keep Elizabeth in the medically induced coma she is in now, the baby will be fine. We can get it out in 6 or 7 months with a c-section. Of course if she wakes up, that would be much better, but as I told you before, the chance of Elizabeth ever waking up again is very very small. And if she doesn’t survive before carrying the baby to term, we’ll lose the baby too.”  
John nodded solemnly. “I need them both to survive.”  
Ronon put a supportive hand on his shoulders and Keller kept quiet, not wanting to voice the fact that he would probably lose at least one of them.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Time passed slowly for the father to be. Every week Keller came with the scanner and showed him how the baby had grown.  
Colonel Samantha Carter took over command of the city and John needed to get back to active duty. He hated leaving Elizabeth alone. Her room in the infirmary had now become their room. An extra bed had been placed inside of it for him to sleep on and he had moved several of their personal items to the infirmary room. He spent every free moment by her side, talking to her, telling her about his day, about his missions, about the rest of the expedition and reading ‘War and Peace’ out loud to her.  
He had requested to Carter that his team was only appointed one-day missions and she had agreed to it, knowing he would rather resign his commission than not be able to spend every day by Elizabeth’s side.  
By now the entire city knew about the marriage and the pregnancy and as Ronon had predicted no one seemed to care or was surprised by it. The IOA representative that came to investigate the relationship between the former commander of Atlantis and her 2IC, was quickly shooed away again when everyone was adamant about the fact that both had always stayed professional and both were perfect in the commanding positions they had been in and were in.  
John was allowed to continue his job and if Elizabeth ever woke up again and be capable of handling the job of expedition leader, she would be reinstated without question.  
Keller was still warning John regularly that the chance of Elizabeth ever waking up again was minimal. And if she ever did wake up, the trauma of the accident would have changed her. She had originally warned him Elizabeth would never be the same again and she stood by that statement.

When John was typing up his latest mission report, Ronon entered the room. He visited them on an almost daily base and John and he had become the best of friends.  
“What’s up?” Ronon always opened their conversation with the exact same line.  
John looked up from his laptop screen and gave the runner a smile.  
“Keller told me the sex of the baby.”  
A smile appeared on Ronon’s face. He knew how long John had wanted to know that.  
“Care to share it with the rest of us?”  
“I’ll be the proud father of a son and I already know what I’m going to call him.”  
Ronon grinned, intrigued by yet another revelation.  
“So?”  
“Elliot… Elliot Weir Sheppard.”  
“Elliot?”  
John nodded. “It was the name of Elizabeth’s dad. She once told me her dad was her inspiration for her entire life. She followed in his footsteps as a diplomat and he guided her on the path of righteousness. She loved her dad deeply and was completely shook up for a very long time when he suddenly passed away. I think she would like her son to be named after a good man like him.”  
Ronon gave his friend a small smile. “I think you’re right.”

TWO MONTHS LATER

“Feel this!” John exclaimed, tugged on Ronon’s hand and put it on Elizabeth’s stomach.  
The runner tried to feel what John was talking about and then gasped when suddenly something under his hand moved.  
“Wow…”  
“I know.” John beamed. “Isn’t it amazing?”  
“I never could feel this when my sister was pregnant.” Ronon admitted and kept his hand on Elizabeth’s stomach, feeling intently for more movement and grinning every time he felt it.  
John smiled at his friend’s reaction, but at the same time he was feeling genuinely sad… if only Elizabeth was awake to experience this.  
Her condition was still unchanged and slowly he had started losing hope for her recovery, instead pouring all his hope into the well being of his son.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Keller pushed the scanner away from Elizabeth and then turned to John.  
“If we do the c-section now, the baby will be perfectly able to survive outside of the womb. Just a week in the incubator and some much needed TLC from his dad and he’ll be just fine.”  
John was uncomfortable with the idea that his son would be born prematurely. A pregnancy was supposed to last at least 9 months… not 8…  
Apparently picking up on his hesitation, Keller continued.  
“The longer we wait, the more strenuous the operation will be for Elizabeth. If you want any chance of her surviving this, we have to do it now.”  
Letting out a forced breath, John nodded. “Alright, if you think this is the best for both of them, then do it.”  
Keller nodded. “I’ll start to prep everything for the operation.”

Ronon was standing by John’s side again when Elizabeth was wheeled into the OR.  
“We’ll bring your son to you when we’re finished.” Keller tried assuring him before entering the OR herself.  
“They’ll both be fine.” Ronon said.  
“Don’t bullshit me, man. Keller told me often enough only one of them would survive this.”  
Giving him a knowing look, Ronon shook his head. “Don’t give up on her.”  
“I could never do that… but still…”  
“Yeah…”  
Sometimes few words were needed between the friends and John liked that, especially in situations like these.

Time seemed to go extremely slow and John paced the hallway in front of the OR impatiently. Ronon had to restrain himself not to grab his friend by the collar and pull him down onto one of the chairs.  
When John heard the distant whale of an infant, he suddenly stopped and intently listened for more. Had he heard it wrong? Was his mind playing tricks on him?  
It seemed hours later, but it were just a few minutes, when Keller came out of the OR with a small bundle in her arms.  
John stared in amazement at the tiny baby.  
That was *his* son.  
When Keller transferred the boy into John’s arms, he never wanted to let him go again. He looked at his son and when Elliot yawned, it was one of the cutest things he had ever seen.  
“He looks beautiful.” Ronon grinned and squeezed John’s shoulder gently.  
“Congratulation, Colonel.” Keller said. “He’s a perfectly healthy boy. The fact that he’s so small is only because he was born prematurely. He just needs about a week in the incubator and then you can take him home with you.”  
John simply nodded, too speechless to say anything.  
“There is another matter though that I need to discuss with you.”  
John looked up at her. “What is it?”  
Letting out a sigh, she said: “Elizabeth flatlined twice during the operation. We pulled her through, but right now she’s worse than before. We are keeping her alive, John. Her body doesn’t want to function anymore. If we cut the power, she dies.”  
Glaring at her, John shook his head. “I’m not giving up on her.”  
“Colonel, she will never recover from this. Not ever.”  
“No! I will not have this discussion ever again. We are keeping her alive as long as possible. I never want to tell my son that I gave up on his mother.”  
Keller was reluctant to agree. “I’ll do what I can, but it will only be a matter of time now.”  
John nodded and held Elliot close to him.

ONE WEEK LATER

John gently lowered Elliot in his crib. His son was finally home.  
At least, home in the infirmary room Elizabeth and John still resided in.  
Carter had granted John six months without off-world missions and he wanted to take advantage of that time by spending as much time as possible with his son and Elizabeth.  
He knew Elizabeth couldn’t be kept alive much longer in the vegetative state she was in now, but he still talked to her like she could hear him. He still took her hand in his several times a day and kissed her on her cheek or on her forehead just as much.  
He walked over to her and took her hand in his.  
“Our son is home, Liz. Now all he still needs is his mom.”

ONE WEEK LATER

John was lying on his bed with Elliot nestled on his chest and talking softly to the small baby who was almost asleep but still fighting it.  
According to John, Elliot was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. He knew he was biased, but still… He was sure Elliot had Elizabeth’s piercing eyes and, thank heavens, not his ears. His hair was already as stubborn as his own, but it had Elizabeth’s color. Keller had also informed him Elliot had his strong ATA gene and he even had a couple of inactive nanites in his bloodstream.  
He was the perfect combination of them both and he loved the boy even more for that, even though he thought it was impossible to love him even more.  
“Sheppard!!”  
John cringed when McKay suddenly burst into the room and immediately shushed him.  
“Elliot’s nearly asleep, would you keep it down.”  
Rodney looked a bit sheepishly. “Euhm… yeah… sorry… but I finally figured it out.”  
John rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time to come and play guinea-pig for you right now, McKay.”  
“Not everything is about you.” Rodney shot back and that peeked John’s attention.  
“Then what the heck are you talking about?”  
“I figured out how to configure the nanites so that…”  
“Rodney!” John growled, gently moved his son from his chest into his arms, got up from the bed and put him in his crib. “I am not having this conversation again. You are not reactivating those nanites.”  
“But…”  
“No, Rodney!”  
“Would you let me finish!”  
John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
“Fine… say what you have to say.”  
“You probably don’t know this, but I spend every free moment that I had, working on reprogramming the nanites so that they would replace Elizabeth’s damaged tissue with organic cells instead of replicator cells. I finally figured it out. They won’t do her any harm, they won’t be able to send out any signals, all they will be able to do is replace her damaged tissue with organic cells and after they have finished their task, they will shut themselves down.”  
“Rodney…” John sighed again and rubbed his palm over his face. He didn’t want to get false hope and he didn’t want to betray her again by doing something she explicitly told him never to do.  
“I am 100% sure this will work. I’m willing to bet my own life on that.”  
“Will she wake up instantly?” John asked and Mckay shook his head.  
“No, I’ve been discussing this with Jennifer for a long time now and we’re going to keep her in a medically induced coma until all the nanites are inactive again.”  
“And you’re sure this will work? She won’t be part replicator?” He didn’t want to get his hopes up, he really didn’t, but his heart started to beat faster and he could feel himself becoming more nervous. Would she really make it through this?  
“I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure about anything else before. This is her only chance, John.”  
Damn… she never wanted this, but it was her only chance and they would be doing it without danger to the city and without danger to her… She would forgive him for this, wouldn’t she?  
“Convince Carter and then do it.”

***

“They’re working so fast…” Keller breathed in disbelief as she stared at the screen that showed Elizabeth’s life signs. “According to this, she’ll be her old self before the day is over.”  
John couldn’t believe his ears. Elizabeth would make it. She would make it!  
It was only mere hours after Carter had given a hesitant ok. Her only demands were that Elizabeth stayed under guard at all times as long as the nanites were active and that Keller and McKay kept a constant watch on what the nanites were doing to her and on her progress. All of them agreed to it without hesitation.

***

John entered the room and stared at his wife. It was the first time since this whole mess had begun that he looked at her face without a breathing tube sticking out of her mouth. And the sight took his breath away.  
God, she was still beautiful.  
Elizabeth had been moved back into her room and all she had to do now was wake up.  
He sat down on the chair next to her bed, balanced his son on one arm and took her hand in his free hand.  
“Liz, honey? You have to wake up now. I miss you so much and I want to talk to you again. I have a little boy here who can’t wait to meet you. Please wake up, so I can look into your beautiful eyes again.”  
John sighed and squeezed her hand a little tighter.  
‘All she has to do now is wake up,’ that had been Keller’s precise words… but then why wasn’t she waking up? Had the nanites deactivated themselves too soon?  
A knocking on the door brought him out of his trance and he called whoever it was inside.  
“What’s up?”  
Without looking, John knew it was Ronon.  
“She’s not waking up.”  
“Give her time… she hasn’t been awake for so long.”  
“I just miss her so damn much, you know.”  
Ronon slouched down on the chair opposite John and looked at the troubled face of his friend.  
“Maybe she just needs a kiss of her prince charming.”  
John gave him a smile.  
“I never should have told you about Earth fairy tales.”  
Ronon shrugged. “Give it a try. Won’t hurt a soul and you won’t know until you try.”  
John had to admit that Ronon did have a very valid point. And there really was no harm in trying.  
Holding Elliot close to him, he stood up slightly and hovered over her. It had been so long since he had kissed her, so long since he had felt her lips against his.  
Gradually lowering himself, he closed his eyes and tenderly brushed his lips with hers. Her lips felt dry and chapped, but still so incredibly familiar. When he gently broke the kiss, he opened his eyes again and waited impatiently, almost holding his breath, for some sort of reaction.  
None came.  
With a sigh he sat down again and silently cursed.

When he woke up in the middle of the night from a strange noise, he sat up right away. Thinking on the lights in their lowest setting he looked to the crib. Elliot was still fast asleep so he turned to Elizabeth.  
He gasped.  
“John?” She was looking at him in confusion.  
Was he dreaming this? He had dreamed this at least a hundred times before, but it had never felt so real before.  
“Liz…” John breathed and got out of bed, hurrying over to her. “Is… Are… I… You’re awake.”  
“John, what happened?”  
“The replicator beam that hit the city took you out. You’ve been in a coma ever since.” He gently touched her cheek and he was amazed at the warmth she radiated. She had never felt this warm before.  
She pushed herself up, but John held her down.  
“Take it easy. I need Keller to check you out first.”  
“John, I feel fine.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes, positive.  
“I… I still need to get Keller.”  
“How long was I out?”  
The question shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did.  
“Almost seven months.”  
Her eyes widened.  
“That’s impossible. My motor skills shouldn’t be like this when I’ve been out for almost seven months.”  
He cast her eyes away from her.  
“John, what did you do?”  
“Liz…”  
“John, don’t tell me you reactivated the nanites…”  
The disappointment in her voice was obvious and he cringed.  
“There was no danger.” He assured her. “Not to you, not to the city and they are inactive again now. McKay even bet his life on it and we all know how fond he is of that.”  
“John…”  
He took her face in his hands and almost forced her to look at him. “I was one of the few people who’d rather see you die then save you by reactivating the nanites… No matter how much it was killing me, but I was respecting your wishes. That was the only thing that kept me going: I was respecting your wishes. But then I spend almost seven months by your side, watching you slowly slip away from me while our son grew inside of you and after he was born Keller told me it was only a matter of weeks before you died. When Rodney made his proposition about the nanites not being harmful and replacing your damaged tissue with organic cells and then deactivating themselves again, I took it… desperately and with both hands. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without you and raising our son alone. That boy has a right to know how amazing his mother is.”  
She silenced him by placing her hand on his lips.  
“Pregnant? Son? John, what are you talking about?”  
It suddenly dawned on him that he had mentioned their son several times during his rant.  
“Keller had been wrong about the pregnancy scare… you really were pregnant.”  
She gasped and her eyes opened wide. “I was pregnant?”  
John nodded.  
“Oh God, what happened to him?”  
“He’s perfectly fine.” John assured her and turned towards the crib. “Keller still calls him a miracle and that he truly is.”  
Taking his son in his arms, he turned back towards Elizabeth.  
“Elizabeth, I’d like you to meet your son: Elliot Weir Sheppard. Elliot, I’d like you to meet your mom: Elizabeth aka mom.” He very carefully took the baby’s little wrist between his fingers and made tiny waving motions towards Elizabeth while saying in a very high voice: “Hi, mommy.”  
Elizabeth gasped and looked at John teary eyed.  
“Elliot? You named him after my dad?”  
John nodded. “I know how much you loved and respected your dad. I thought it’s what you would have wanted.”  
He placed Elliot in her arms and she stared at the small boy in disbelief.  
“He looks beautiful.”  
John smiled and leaned against the bed. “Just like his mom.”  
Looking up at him, she gave him a teary smile. “I can’t believe I missed the entire pregnancy.”  
His grin turned playful as he cupped her face in his palm and gave her a chaste yet loving kiss. God, how he had missed kissing her…  
“You can make up for that with our second child.”  
She laughed, balanced Elliot on one arm and wrapped her other around John.  
Holding both of her men close, she told them both how much she loved them.  
From that moment on John believed in miracles again.

THE END


End file.
